Team Boot Camp
by josmi1351
Summary: In the weeks following the Battle of New York, the Avengers have all relocated to Stark Tower. With push from Stark, Fury agrees to give the team a week off together and start trying to build up their relations with one another. A series of one shots from the week of boot camp. Some mild Clintasha and appearances by other MCU characters
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So this is the first part of my new Avengers series. It's a series of related one-shots that all take in MCU post-New York. Although the story is following the MCU storyline, some parts and details will be taken from the comics, mostly for the backstories though. Please review, follow, favourite or whatever else you feel like doing. Constructive criticism and ideas are appreciated, but if it gets to the point where it's no longer constructive, I will call people out on their comments. Anyway, hope you enjoy what's here so far.**

Day 0: Avengers Tower

"You want to do what?"

Tony sighed and-although he hated the thought-repeated himself again. "Fury gave the go ahead, so there's no backing out. A week off duties for team building activities."

Natasha was the first to get up from the kitchen table, followed by Clint. They had both agreed to live at the Tower with everyone else, on the condition that they were still assigned frequent missions by Fury. Neither could handle Tony for more than a few days without wanting to break his neck.

"There's no way Fury agreed to this," Natasha called over her shoulder as she headed towards the elevator. "He needs us too much right now and Clint just got back last night."

Tony smirked. He knew that was Natasha's angle and had thought ahead. "That's exactly why you get the week off. Relax, have some fun, tour around a bit and "learn to work as a team." Those were Fury's words, not mine."

The assassins stop and froze in their tracks. Clint's hand didn't move from the elevator button he was in the motion of pressing. Everyone in the room was on edge. Steve, Thor and Bruce were expecting a knife to come flying at Tony's head any second. Tony was already prepared, holding up a cutting board that covered his face and mini arc reactor.

"Hey Natasha, Clint," Bruce's quiet voice filled the silent room, "it's only for a week. Everyone can pick something they want to do, and Fury can get you both a month long mission at the end if you want."

Clint was the first to move, easing one hand away from the elevator button and the other from the knife in his pocket. He turned around to see Tony still holding the cutting board as his little shield.

Clint smiled and began to walk back to the others. As he walked past Natasha he brushed her arm and nodded. "Nat, anytime now is good."

With a graceful smile, she quickly spun on her heels, and in a blink of an eye, a knife was embedded in the middle of Tony's cutting board. With a smile still on her face, she followed Clint back to the table.

Steve could hardly keep the grin off his face when he turned to Tony and said "I think you can lower the shield there."

Tony's expression was a mix of horror, smugness and the pout he usually put on when either of the assassins threw something at him.

"One condition," Natasha chided, "I get to pick first, and Clint gets the last day."

Steve could sense Tony beginning to protest and quickly intervened. "I believe we have an agreement then. Natasha gets day one, Thor can have day two, Tony can have day three, I'll take four, Bruce gets five, leaving Clint with the last day."

Everyone nodded in agreement. They might not like the idea of team adventures for the week, but each getting to pick the day's activities made it somewhat more bearable.

"Now the rules."

Out of all the Avengers, Bruce was the one to raise concern first.

"Really Tony, you want to be the one to actually have a set of rules?"

"Course I do," he brushed the question off like it was completely irrelevant. "So plans for the next day must be distributed out the night before the day of the event. Day's events that jeopardize the life of an individual are not allowed; neither is leaving the country or putting some one in a situation where another would want to take the live of a teammate. This next part is from Fury. JARVIS would you care to play the message?"

"Certainly," the British Al's voice filled the room. Fury's voice came through the air next.

"Agent Barton and Agent Romanoff: please refrain from maiming a member of the team, particularly Stark. Banner: don't let any of the others get too carried away, and please try and stay calm. Steve and Clint will help with that. Captain Rogers: do try and enjoy yourself, this is not a mission. Thor: leave the hammer at the Tower. I don't want to explain to the council again after what happened last week. And Tony: one foot out of line this week and I will have Barton put an arrow through the suits."

Clint's eyes lit up at the sound of Fury's last remark. He would certainly enjoy watching Stark's face as the suits went down one by one.

"So Natasha, what's the plan for the morning?" Steve's voice was strong, but she could sense the fear in his face. Not fear of her, but more what she had planned.

"Oh it will be fun trust me, Clint and I did it a few years back. I'll send you the information in a few hours once I get everyone registered." With that, she got up from the table and walked towards the elevator to go back to her floor. The bounce in her step and smile on her face put everyone on edge.

Thor was the first to speak. Turning to face Clint he asked, "So what exactly is she meaning my friend?"

Clint shook his head. "Really don't know Thor buddy; she's convinced me to do a lot of stuff for fun over the years. Give me a sec, she might have sent something."

On that cue, Clint's phone vibrated on the kitchen counter where he had put it down last to make coffee. Anxious, he leapt for the phone and quickly unlocked it, seeing that the message was from Nat.

NAT: REMEMBER THIS?

Attached to the message was a picture of Clint, shirtless, covered in mud from his neck to his feet.

"Really Nat, of all the stupid things you could have made us do, you picked this damn one?" Clint couldn't help but curse and shake his head. Of course she wanted to see them all suffer while she got a good laugh.

"Uh Clint," Steve asked, the concern evident in his voice. "You care to elaborate?"

Clint opened the picture Nat had sent him again and slid the phone across the table so Steve and the others could see.

"Ever head of _Down & Dirty Obstacle Races_?"


	2. Chapter 2

**AU: Thank you to everyone's who read this, and special thank you to ilikehats2 for commenting. Like I said before, there's aspects to the story that come from both the MCU and comics. One major difference is in the comics, that hasn't been addressed in MCU yet is that Clint is deaf (which in this story he is), after being stabbed in the ears with his arrows. (I'm going by the new comics here.) **

Day 1: Pelham Bay Park, Bronx - New York

Tony and Bruce had been up for the better of the night and early morning hours, trying to design team suits for the week-particularity for this race Natasha had signed them up for. With an hour to spare, the Science Brothers left the lab and headed up to the main kitchen, duffle bags in hand. Each bag was label with the name and insignia of each avenger.

"You can thank us later," Tony beckoned as he and Bruce put the duffle bags by the door. "Everything should hold up fine. Even Brucey here's got stuff that's Hulk-proof."

The last sentence caught Steve by surprise. He was use to Tony, Bruce and Clint if he was around, messing with things in the lab. The experiments usually ended with some sort of terrifying incident, including the need of more fire extinguishers and padded mats to be installed in the Lab.

Steve could only shake his head at the thought of Stark producing clothes that wouldn't rip if Bruce Hulked out. "I don't even want to know how you managed to test that. Care to explain what's in the bags?"

Bruce nodded and began to distribute each bag to its owners. Natasha and Clint automatically opened their bags on the table, while Steve simply acknowledged its presence in front of him. Thor was too engrossed in watching the toaster cook his poptarts to notice what was going on around him.

"So, everyone's kit has the same basic components; suits, shirts, shorts and layers. The fabrics are all light weight, designed to abstain water and help cool down faster. Just a quick warning-they aren't fire proof yet. Tony forgot to add something to the chemicals and in short, he somehow made them easily flammable. Try and stay away from open flames." Bruce drew a long breath before continuing. "Everything has a GPS and vital sign monitor built into the materials. The wristbands double as watches and a computer screen, so you can see where someone is and also get their vitals if needed. Warning signals will be sent if the vitals drop to a dangerous point. Other than that, the bags are tailored to each individual and are pretty standard."

Satisfied, Clint and Natasha packed their bags up and stowed them beneath the table. Steve had pulled the wristband, trying to figure out how to navigate around the system that was linked to JARVIS in the tower. Just noticing the bag, Thor abandoned the poptarts for a moment and began to happily go through his new clothes. Tony and Bruce sat down at the table to the breakfast Clint had prepared, both feeling very proud of their night's work.

Shortly after everyone had finished breakfast, JARVIS came over the audio system. "Sir, the cars are ready in the garage. Should I have someone bring them around to the front?"

Tony shook his head. "Don't worry about it, we'll just go down and pick the ones we want. Everyone ready? Red, you going to send the address over to the cars or not?"

Natasha smirked and stood up from the table while pulling her bag over her shoulder in one fluid motion. "Already did," she grined, "Clint sent them over while you were in the lab."

The rest of the Avengers followed Natasha as she walked past a stunned Tony. Hardly anything got into the system without him or JARVIS authorizing it. He was considering reprogramming the system and changing the codes to JARVIS as Steve grabbed his arm and began towing him to an elevator.

"Even if you change the codes, they'll still find a way to get through it within a few weeks. It's really not worth going to all the trouble."

Tony nodded silently as he squished into the elevator alongside everyone else. He wasn't sure why they hadn't split into two elevators, but couldn't be bothered to ask.

"So who's driving?" Clint's voice filled the air in the elevator.

It was Natasha who answered the question. Normally Tony made the driving arrangements as it was his collection of cars, but seeing as it was Natasha's day, she was in charge of the entire op.

"Steve, Bruce and Tony can go in one car-I don't care who drives. Clint, Thor and I will take another one. The park isn't too far away, maybe an hour drive. No stopping for food-Tony-we need to be there in enough time to sign in and get a good spot."

As the elevator came to a stop at the private garage, everyone exited quickly and headed towards the cars. Clint automatically headed over to where Stark's 1967 Shelby Cobra sat in the middle of the garage. After begging Tony to fix it up from the crash during his early test flights, Clint had fell in love with the car, preferring to think of it as his own car just being stored in a friend's garage. Natasha didn't say a word as Clint slid into the driver's seat. There was an unspoken that unless Clint was seriously injured, he was the one who drove the car, specifically if he was with Natasha.

There was a bit more talking from the other car's direction as the Science Bros and Steve battled over who was going to be driving today. They were gathered around Stark's precious Audi R8 E-Tron, the one that was precisely made for him and only him. Tony has managed to grab the keys and was standing by the car door. Bruce however, was sitting in the driver's seat, complaining that it was always Tony who got to drive everywhere and he now wanted a turn. Steve was standing between Tony and Bruce, trying to overcome their voices. He was more concerned that the car didn't technically have a back seat, and Natasha wanted them all to arrive in one piece.

A knife in the retractable roof and ten minutes later the Avengers were pulling out of the garage into the streets of New York. Clint behind the wheel in one car, with Nat beside him and Thor in the back is consuming a box of poptarts; Bruce behind the other wheel, with Tony beside him and a very afraid Captain Rogers sitting in the makeshift backseat.

As the Avengers exited the change rooms and headed back to where Tony had set up the tent, they tried to avoid eye contact as much as possible. In the past few weeks, grainy videos and pictures had shown up around the globe of the Avengers in New York, and although SHIELD tried to erase most images, it was likely a few were still circulating. Accordingly, everyone had agreed to remain low and try not to draw attention to them. Everyone accept Tony.

Of course he had designed all the clothes not only to match as a team, but had personalized them in some way that resembled their alter-egos. Natasha's had a spider on things where the SHIELD enigma would normally be located, while Clint had an arrow in the same areas. Bruce, Thor and Steve all had the same ideas in the uniforms, but each a little different; Thor with his hammer; Bruce a mini hulk; Steve his shield. Tony's was slightly different. Instead of having a small crest, his shirt was simply designed to show the arc reactor in the middle of his chest. As if not enough people would recognize Tony Stark, the outfit practically screamed 'I am Iron Man.'

Natasha didn't really care though. Once everyone was covered in mud and sweating, no one would be paying enough attention to notice the little team. She had to hand it to Stark and Banner. Although the clothes were slightly over the top, they were almost as comfortable as her everyday workout gear.

After leaving their gear at the tent, Natasha led the boys over to the registration desks. She had registered everyone the night before, but needed to get numbers and bags.

"Everyone is registered under their own names." She called over her shoulder as she got in line. Judging by the noises the boys were making, they were complaining already. Perfect.

"Next please."

Natasha put on her kindest smile as she walked up to the attendant at the desk.

"Hi. There's a group of us registered for the 3 mile. Natalia Romanova, Clinton Barton, Anthony Stark, Robert Banner, Thor Odinson, Steve Rogers."

The woman at the desk nodded and began pulling out packages from the box by her computer. She didn't even seem to notice the names or faces of the people who were standing behind Natashsa.

"Right then, here you are. Numbers go on, as well as the timers. The race starts in about 15 minutes. Have a good time."

Natasha took the bags, thanking the woman for the help, and collected the others before moving back to the tent. 15 minutes wasn't a long time to get to the start line, but hopefully it would be enough.

"Three miles Nat! Are you fucking kidding me? You know they couldn't run a mile without stopping." Natasha could hear the concern in Clint's voice but was glad to see he was still smiling.

They were a ¼ mile into the run now. When it came to running, Steve could easily run circles around everyone. But throw in an obstacle every 500 feet or so and he was like a confused toddler. He took time to assess it, and then create a plan, and would still end up messing up somehow.

Nat laughed loudly. It wasn't her usually 'people are around and I need to look like I'm having a good time laugh,' it was the laugh she had when she was around Clint; a genuine laugh.

"I know but I really wanted to see Stark struggle with this and it looks like he's living up to my expectations. "

Ahead of them by a few seconds were Steve and Thor, followed closely by Bruce and Tony. The later were starting to slow down, as they did not have the physical regime the others did, but they were not yet admitting defeat. As the group approached the next obstacle, everyone heard Tony curse loudly.

"What else could they possible put in here? You never said anything about military training Romanoff!"

Laughing again, Natasha watched as Steve and Thor approached the low cargo nets. The obstacle was designed that you had to crawl though water under a cargo next, which had about a foot clearance between net and water. It wouldn't have been too bad, except for the fact that the net and pit were over 100 feet long.

This time, the obstacle didn't faze Steve. He immediately seemed to sense the easiest way to get across. His war experience and training kicked in as he ran into the water and flipped on his back before using the net to pull himself through the water.

Thor on the other hand couldn't grasp the idea. He waded into the water and tried to crawl, only to find the water too deep and his head under the water. In response to being under, he shot upward, only to collide head first into the cargo net. Steve watched Thor continue the drown- and -rocket movements a few times before turning back to help. With Steve's guidance, Thor was able to slowly move across the pit, following Steve's instructions on how to best keep from drowning.

Next into the water was Bruce. Of the Science Bros and Thor, he seemed to be handling the best so far. With a quick glance ahead at Thor and Steve, he too flipped on his back and began to pull himself through the water. Tony on the other hand stopped dead in his tracks and sat down.

"Nope, not doing it Red," Tony shouted back to Natasha, who with Clint had now caught up to Tony. "I agreed to run 3 miles. I've now jumped over military walls, climbed numerous nets and run with sandbags over my shoulders. There is no way I am getting into that trench!"

Natasha was half tempted to leave Tony in the sand and continue on without him. At some point he'd either be collected to be brought back to the finish or he'd suck it up and get in the water. As Natasha started walking into the water, Clint grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

"We really should help him Tasha."

Natasha could see the spark in Clint's eye and knew exactly what he meant by 'helping' Tony. In a matter of seconds, Clint and Natasha were picking Tony up by the elbows and tossing him into the water.

"Not fair!" was all Tony could sputter out as he coughed the water out of his lungs.

Clint smiled and shrugged before wading into the water himself. Tony deserved it after all; he was the one who was so adamant about everyone living in the tower and acting as a team.

Clint was just about to fully submerge himself in the water when he heard Nat calling his name from behind. He quickly turned his head to see Nat tapping her ears, reminding him to take the hearing aids out. He could only grumble as he took the tiny hearing aids out of his ears and zipped them into a waterproof pocket in his shorts. After damaging so many pairs, Tony had redesigned the original hearing aids SHIELD had given him to be waterproof, but Nat still worried something could go wrong. He smiled back to Nat, silently thanking her for the reminder, and lifted his body out of the water so he was flat against the underside of the net. Quickly and silently, he moved across the net, wanting to make some time on the others who were now almost out of the water.

An hour. That was how long it took the Avengers to complete the race. Nat was still happy with the results, although it came nowhere close to her and Clint's 25 minute record. To her surprise, everyone was happy afterward, sharing laughs about mishaps and obstacles. Even Tony, who was now dry and sleeping in the grass, claimed he had a good time. He swore up and down that he'd never try another race, but he had stopped complaining.

Natasha could hear Thor and Steve coming back to the tent from the showers. Both were analysing the course, and how they could improve the next time. Steve had told her he liked the military aspect of the obstacles, while Thor simply claimed he liked any challenge. Bruce had already shared his piece, telling her he hated the running part and the obstacles for the most part too. The only entertaining part was that he got to experience the pain alongside Tony.

As for her and Clint, they both readily enjoyed the challenge. Clint wasn't a fan of the running portion, but SHEILD required a running standard in the fitness testing, and Clint knew if he didn't keep his training up he would struggle to meet it. Natasha just really loved the idea of obstacles and seeing if she could beat Clint through any of them.

"Can we go home yet?" Tony's exhausted voice broke Natasha's thought train. She turned to fix her eyes on a very red Iron Man, lying in the grass, using his duffle bag as a pillow.

Bruce's voice came from the other side of the tent, where he was collapsed in one of the chairs Tony had packed. "I'll second the motion. Can we get some food on the way back though? That Cliff Bar they threw in the bags didn't go too far."

Clint nodded in agreement. He pulled himself up from the ground before turning to help Nat and Tony up as well.

"I'm good to stop," he declared while grabbing his own bag from a chair. "On the conditions that it's not shwarma, because we've eaten that too much already and it can't be dunkin' donuts again. I'm pretty sure Thor's now kicked been kicked out of every location in New York."


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 2: McCormick Place, Downtown Chicago **

All Bruce wanted was a peaceful night's sleep after the exhausting race Natasha had chosen to torment them all with. When Thor had told everyone he wanted to go to Chicago, Bruce honestly thought it would be an afternoon thing. He was wrong in so many ways.

5am was the time Thor had chosen JARVIS to wake them all up at. Normally JARVIS' voice came over the system into everyone's private rooms, kindly telling them to wake up. Thor must have done something wrong when he attempted to set the alarm-he was still getting a grasp on Tony's technology. Instead of the AL's voice, the Russian national anthem came over the audio system, at least five times the regular Al's volume.

From the floor below, Bruce could already hear Tony yelling at JARVIS to cut the music off, but to no avail. Down the hall he could also hear Steve emerging from his own rooms, also asking for someone to turn the music down, claiming he was up and ready. Bruce sighed and slowly got out of the large warm bed. Tony would be calling in a minute, telling him to get down to the lab and help shut the music off.

_Great start to the day Thor_,he muttered to in his head.

"Tasha, could you please explain why the hell Госудáрственный гимн Росси́йской Федерáции is playing right now."

Natasha angrily got out of the comfy bed and walked over to where Clint was curled up in his nest. Tony had graciously given them the floor with roof access, and had even designed suspended catwalks for Clint. Most nights he usually slept in a bed, but there were times when he preferred to take to one of his nests in the ceiling or roof.

"**это не я."** It's not me.

Natasha wondered how he could possibly hear the music as there was a good chance he had taken his hearing aids out. Then again, given how loud it was, he could probably make out that it was the Russian national anthem. Whenever Natasha used to miss her past, she would put on a playlist with the anthem, Tchaikovsky and other music she grew up listening to. The days she played the list were few and far between now. The only time she played anything in Russian was when she had time off and began dancing again.

Moving across the dark room to turn on the lights, Natasha noticed Clint coming down from the catwalks, and heading towards the table where he kept the hearing aids. Quickly, she turned on the lights and moved over to where Clint could see her better. Shaking her head, Nat signed for him not to put them in yet. The music was still blaring, and at this volume she was afraid the levels might damage the little hearing Clint had left.

Irritated, tired and sore, the assassins began to slowly move around the room, collecting things needed and getting dressed.

_So much for sleeping in and having a week off._

In less than an hour, they were on Tony's private jet, flying from Midtown, Manhattan to Chicago. The air was heavy inside the plane. Everyone was too tired and pissed off to talk and be civil. It had taken Tony and Bruce almost ten minutes to get JARVIS to stop playing the music and return to normal volume. In the simple task Thor had taken on, he had somehow managed to change the main alarm setting JARVIS possessed. Shortly after shutting it down, Tony confiscated Thor's state of the art laptop, muttering something about going to best buy and getting him a netbook.

Clint was the only one who was moving about the plane. No one had time to eat breakfast at the tower, so he had taken on the responsibility of cooking the morning meal. One by one he brought each Avenger their favourite meals on silver trays before finally taking a seat across a table from Natasha.

"Why are we going to Chicago anyways?"

Nat only shrugged and continued to eat the special chocolate chip pancakes Clint made only for her. Thor had forgotten to mention why the trip to Chicago was necessary in the proposal last night.

Grumbling about the early morning and unnecessary trips to the Midwest, Clint turned around to ask Stark the same question.

"Give me a sec here and I'll pull up what Thor over here was reading."

Tony pulled out a tablet and began activating the holographic screen that was connected to the tablet Clint had been using.

"So, the NATO summit is being held in Chicago, and conveniently starts today. Thousands of people are expected to protest in the streets; the whole shebang from fracking to the war in Afghanistan. Thor over here deems it a worthy cause and wants to go 'fight alongside the people of earth for the good of all mankind.' Not sure he realises this isn't a war, but it's his day."

Clint could only lean back into the leather seat and sigh. Protests weren't really his style. He was used to having a target, taking them down and then returning to SHIELD. Ask kindly and wait for a response seemed a bit ridiculous to him.

Quietly, Clint collected everyone's dishes, stowed them in the kitchen, and moved back to his seat. He still had a little over an hour until they reached Chicago. Maybe if he reclined the seat and stole Steve's pillow he'd be able to sleep for a while…

Personally, Steve didn't have an issue protesting. He never liked bullies, no matter where they came from. The fact that there were still rights issues and wars in the world was worrying to Steve. He had hoped that in 70 years people had learned from their mistakes and able to live together. He was very wrong about that part. 70 years had really just allowed for more weapons technology-Stark was mainly to blame for that-and capitalism to grow more

The only problem Steve had with the whole day of protest thing was that Thor had chosen this particular protest. Already headlines and photos were being run all across America, and probably in other countries by now. And right in the middle of the crowded Chicago streets were Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

"So what's the plan Stark? How are we going to get out of this one?" Steve tried to keep his voice confident but he could tell his facial expressions were giving him away.

Tony didn't really have an answer to the question; in fact no one really did. Thor was mentally lost in the crowds of people. He kept asking Steve where the battle was and why people were holding signs on large sticks. Steve tried to explain what a protest exactly was, but Thor was still having difficulty grasping the concept.

Natasha and Clint were both talking together; obviously worried someone would recognise them. Already Natasha had called Fury to try and get them out, but Fury refused to put more SHIELD agents in the Chicago streets while a NATO summit was going on.

"We could just shoot them all." Clint was talking loudly enough for Steve and a few others around him to hear the conversation. The comments were almost normal given the crowd they were in.

"Just get to the roof, go in through the access points and the rest is practically done for you. Security's more worried about people getting in from the streets right now. They aren't even watching the roof!"

To Thor, this protest was a good way to spend the day. Already he had met people, listened to their stories and shared his concern for Midgard. As the future King of Asgard, it was his duty to ensure the peace and honour of all nine realms was upheld. He hoped that after the protest, the leaders of this world would work peacefully together and resolve many of the issues the people had.

The other Avengers were not as enthusiastic about the protest; they had been complaining since they set foot on the streets. Thor did not mind though. He had seen smiles on their faces whenever someone cracked a joke, even if it was about the protest and people's ideals.

As the group walked behind him, Thor felt a slight tug on the back of his shirt. Turning around, he noticed a sun burnt Bruce, clutching a water bottle he had decided to buy along the way.

"Hey I know the whole protest thing is important to you, but we've been walking for the whole day. Everyone's tired, and by the sounds of it, the protest is camping out for the night. Tony was going to call the airport and have the plane readied to leave in an hour. Can we head back now?"

Thor thought for a moment. He didn't want to turn back now as he knew the demonstrations would be continuing on. Looking back over his shoulder though, he could see that Bruce was right. Steve was practically carrying Tony over his shoulder now. Clint and Natasha were still walking on their own feet, but the expressions plastered on their faces suggested they were coming up with ways to take out everyone around them-including Thor.

With a sigh, Thor nodded to Bruce. "We shall return now. There is no use continuing along this path if we lose our team to exhaustion. Can the Iron Man get us back to the plane?"

A smile came over Bruce's face. He had doubts to believe Thor's mind could be changed so easily.

"He's already figured out the route back. Just turn into the next street on the left and we can start making our way back."

Without a word, Thor began moving closer to the outside of the mob. Bruce caught Steve's eyes, waving him to follow Thor. Steve's face was pure happiness as he carried Tony through the mass of people.

"Where we going now?" The grouchiness in Tony's voice meant that he must have fallen asleep at some point.

"We're finally going home."

A small smile crept across the billionaire's face. "Thank god. Next time, no protesting for a day. If we have any issues, we send Red and Hawkeye over there to solve it for us."

**Short AU: Thank you so much to everyone who's read this and made comments-I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Any ideas for activities are welcome...I did have a bit of a harder time writing Thor's just because I haven't read a lot of stories from his perspective. Also, sorry if there are any mistakes in Russian-I've only been learning for a few months.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AU: Wow, thank you again to the people who have read and commented on this so far! Here's the next chapter, which has two different parts to it. Just to clear up some things...in the last chapter the protest Thor took them to was the NATO Summit protests in Chicago in 2012. If you want to know more, you can just google it and there's lots of news reports...Also I've never been to the Plaza Hotel, so I'm going off the website and stories from my friends here. Anyways, enjoy the next part.**

**Day 3: Part 1- Belmont Park**

Tony had been planning his day since Fury had finally given him the green light. Every moment he thought about the perfect day; one that was fun yet tested their team work. Millions of ideas had come into his head. It wasn't until JARVIS had played a voicemail for him that he finally decided what to do.

After a second day of exhaustion, the Avengers didn't have much energy to be social. As soon as they got home from Chicago, one by one went to bed until only Tony was still up. Eleven cups of coffee and half a pie kept him up until 11:30pm. He quickly made all the arrangements and sent texts to the others, telling them what the next day had in store for them.

When honest with himself, Tony knew he hadn't really given all the information to the others. However, he knew if he did that they would all argue and complain. So, he decided just to let the day play out, and if he needed to sedate anyone, Bruce was a doctor after all.

Steve had to admit, he was annoyed when he received the text from Tony at almost midnight; he nearly couldn't be bothered to get out of his soft bed and get his phone from across the room to read it. Knowing what tomorrow brought though would help Steve sleep a little easier.

He quickly got out of bed, running across the floor so that he wasn't out of the bed for so long. Steve had to thank Tony for buying him a self-heating blanket. After being frozen in ice for nearly 70 years, all Steve really wanted was to be warm.

Once back in his bed, Steve clicked the phone on to read the full message.

TONY: TOMORROW, 1PM AT BELMONT PARK. AFTER THAT, GALA AT THE PLAZA HOTEL. WARDROBE OPTIONS WILL BE WAITING IN ROOMS AT THE PLAZA.

Steve liked the racetracks, it reminded him of the few times he and Bucky had gone before the war. As for galas, whatever they were, Steve was tentative as to whether he would actually enjoy himself or not.

Clint was happy, maybe even overjoyed. For once there was no insanely loud alarm clock, or Tasha nudging him awake, or being hit with pillows. It was 11am, and Clint had woken up only because he had wanted to. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd slept for 12 hours without stirring.

When he did finally open his eyes, he was surprised to see Tasha sitting beside him in the bed, reading something on her MacBook. Huh, he must have been really tired not to have woken up when Nat got out of bed to find the laptop.

Clint lowered his head back down to the pillow. He didn't really want to put his hearing aids in right now; things were rarely this peaceful in the mornings. Maybe if he closed his eyes again and relaxed Natasha wouldn't notice he was awake yet.

Then again, she was a top notch assassin, barely letting any movement get by her. She had noticed Clint stir and wake up, then try and pretend he hadn't by relaxing and closing his eyes again. Natasha thought about letting it go, but after a glance at the clock, she knew Clint was going to have to get showered sooner rather than later.

Slowly, she reached out and poked Clint's shoulder, not exactly sure how he would react this time. Nat laughed as a smile crossed Clint's face. There was no point talking to him; he couldn't hear her without the aids. Natasha knew by the look on his face that he too knew he had to get up from the bed.

After another poke from Nat, Clint opened his eyes and sat up in the bed. He was still a bit lethargic from the excessive amount of sleep he had gotten. Once he started to move he would feel more alive.

"What's Stark got up his sleeve for today?" the archer asked, rubbing the rheum from his eyes.

Nat rolled her eyes and past Clint the laptop, opening the message that had come from Tony.

_How does Tony own horses? _Clint asked himself as he passed the laptop back to Nat and dragged himself out of the bed. _Why the hell does he even own horses?_

At precisely 1pm, the Audi R8 E-Tron and Shelby Cobra belonging to Tony Stark rolled into the valet parking drop off at Belmont Park. Everyone was dressed finely to sit in the box Tony held at the racetrack. However, instead of going through the glass doors to the grandstand, the found themselves fighting for seats in a golf cart that Tony had requested.

"What happened to watching the races from your box?" Clint asked as he tried to squeeze over so Thor wasn't sitting on top of him.

Tony smiled, that cunning Stark smile, and waved his hands around, letting go of the steering wheel for a moment. "We are going to watch from up there, but first I thought we'd each take a little spin around the track. Racing doesn't start until 3pm. Besides, I want to see Banner here get on a horse."

Bruce was the first to protest.

"Can you even ride a horse Tony? Because last time I checked it wasn't billionaire, playboy philanthropist, jockey."

Tony was miffed to say the least. "No I haven't in a very long time, but it can't be that hard."

"Riding a pony in a circle at Cooney Island doesn't count," Bruce quickly shot back.

It took Steve practically prying the two scientists apart to get them to stop yelling at each other. Steve would've let Bruce keep going at Tony-he didn't like the idea of horses any better-but Stark's driving abilities were questionable at the best of times.

More grumbling, threats to leave and threats to drive an arrow through Tony's arc reactor were made before they finally arrived at Stark's private barn. Steve was really just happy they had made it there in one piece, given the mood of the golf cart driver and amount of traffic in the area.

"How many horses do you even have?" Clint asked as they walked into the large barn. For being Tony Stark, the barn was pretty much identical to the other ones around it; the only difference being a large Stark Industries sign above the door.

Tony shrugged and led them through the barn to the back where a room housed a kitchen, change rooms and some furniture.

"Not sure exactly, maybe fifteen here and another 100 in the world. The horses are more Pepper's thing. It's a nice hobby. Went to Ireland last year for a few days to bet and drink."

Clint couldn't help but roll his eyes. Stark had too much money; he was running out of things to spend it on. Just the other day he had bought Thor the entire supply of Poptarts that were available at the Walmart supply center in NYC.

When they entered the break room, everyone was surprised to see garment bags hanging from a rack by the change rooms, each labelled with a name.

Walking over towards the change rooms, Steve pointed at the bags. "Please don't say we have to wear whatever is in those bags."

Tony smiled and nodded eagerly, as if it was Christmas again.

"Everyone's got their own gear and silks in the bags-I had it made a few days ago. Once everyone's changed, the horses will be readied and we can go!"

Steve cursed under his breath and picked up his own bag. "If mine is like the American flag with the name Spangley written on the back, I Tony I will be the one to give Nat permission to throw more knifes at you."

Tony simply put on his typical Tony face before picking up his own bag and claiming a change room.

"At least your's isn't bright purple with black arrows!"

"You're telling me you'd rather be dressed like you're wearing the American flag?"

"I'll take it over the giant spider Nat's sporting."

"I'll trade the spiders with that nice lightning bolt Thor's got."

"At least his hat cover isn't meant to resemble his face when he loses control!"

"Why's Tony have the normal one anyways?"

Tony had had enough with the complaints. I don't want the black horse, it looks mean. The grey one is too feminine. That one just tried to bite my hand.

"Look, I'm just trying to have a good time with my team!" Tony finally shot back at them.

Surprisingly, that shut them up, even Clint.

"I was really just trying to do something fun that I thought we'd all be on the same level at, so maybe we could all fail together. Could we all just stop arguing for the 15 minutes it's going to take and then get back to throwing knifes at me?"

Nat actually smiled for the first time that day. At first, Tony was afraid that he had missed something, but soon the mood of the barn started to improve.

"I don't know about you Stark," Natasha mocked, "but I've actually done this before."

With that, she took the reins of a horse from a groom and buckled her hat on. With a sharp nod, one of the grooms rushed over and quickly threw Nat up onto the nimble black horse.

"See you later!" she called as she and an outrider headed in the direction of the main track.

Bruce laughed as Tony's jaw dropped. Of all the things in her SHIELD profile, jockey was not one of the things he had seen. That was one of the reasons he had chosen this particular activity.

One by one, everyone was thrown onto the horses, and accompanied by an outrider to the main track. Thor seemed to be comfortable on the largest horses Tony could find for him. _Probably_ _has his own stable on Asgard, _Tony mumbled to himself. _Full of war horses and expensive ones too._

Once out on the track, the Avengers strangely felt calmer. Natasha was already warming up around the track, while the others were still trying to figure out how to ride with such short stirrups. Clint quickly picked up on what Natasha was doing, and mimicked her movements. Without much hassle, he was following her around the short dirt track.

Steve, Tony and Bruce on the other hand looked like they were about to come flying off at any moment. It didn't help that the horses were now excited to be out on the track; they were going in every direction but a straight line forwards.

"It'll help if you get them moving!" one of the outriders called to Bruce, who was holding the reins tightly and holding onto the chestnut's mane.

Bruce nodded slowly. "Like Harlem all over again."

Mustering up all the courage he could, Bruce carefully nudged the horse forward to a canter. Finding the quicker pace more comfortable to control, he gave the go-ahead for the outrider to let him off the line. He matched the pace of the outrider for a few strides before kicking on a little more to go catch Clint and Natasha.

When the horses were properly warmed up, and everyone cleared for safety, Natasha wanted to have a race. Not just one of those from this post to that post races, but one that actually started at the gates and finished at the line in front of the grandstand.

Everyone agreed, mostly for the hope that when they finished they could get off these horses for the last time.

Lining up to enter the gates, Clint surprisingly choses the outside gate while Steve took the first.

"I see better from a distance," was Clint's reply when Natasha raised her eyebrows at him.

One by one they entered the gate. Natasha looked over to her left at Steve, then down the gate to where Clint waited at the end. Already she could hear Tony places bets with Bruce and Clint.

Three quiet tones, then the final bell, and the gates opened.

Natasha immediately moved to the front, not wanting to get boxed in as the other tried to fall into position. She looked back across her shoulder to see Bruce and Clint riding side by side, while Thor and Steve rode neck and neck, and Steve brought up the rear.

She held the lead until the last corner, when a flash of purple and green came up beside her. With a blink of an eye, Clint and Bruce were out front, battling for first place. At that moment she didn't care what Steve, Tony and Thor were doing. All she needed to do was try and get back to where she was and beat Clint.

For all her efforts, Natasha couldn't catch up to Clint or Bruce. After what seemed like a photo finish, the official was able to declare that Bruce in fact did win, with Clint coming in second. Natasha was happy to take third, and even happier to see Bruce actually smiling when he got off and handed the horse over to a groom.

Tony and Steve were not smiling, neither was Thor for that matter. Tony was almost crying from the amount of dirt that had infiltrated his eyes, and Steve was frightened from the high speeds they had travelled at. Thor just kept insisting that Tony was wasting his money with "these puny horses," and that he needed horses to carry him into battle.

All in all, Natasha thought it could have gone at lot worse. Now all they needed to do was get through the night.

**Part 2: The Plaza Hotel, NYC -Evening**

"Keys belonging to the rooms reserved for Mr. Stark."

The receptionist handed over six key cards to Tony, carefully eying up the other Avengers. If she recognised them, she didn't give any hints. Instead, she was most likely judging them for coming into one of the finest hotels covered in sweat and dirt.

Tony quickly snatched the key cards and headed to where everyone was waiting by the open elevator. Once in the elevator and moving up, he distributed the cards accordingly. They were all on the same floor, each having their own suite.

Once they reached the 15th floor, everyone quickly exited the elevator and found the rooms associated with their key cards.

"The Rose suites?" Natasha asked as she unlocked the door. "I thought you were more of a Royal Plaza Suite guy."

Tony shrugged and pushed the door open to his own room. "This was what they had all on the same floor. Going up and down the elevator to see each other would've been tiring by the end of the night."

Tony ignored Natasha's last comments as he brushed through the door and let it shut behind him. With no one watching him, he quickly ran over to the closet, dearly hoping that the garment bags had arrived in time.

With a sigh of relief, he opened the closet to a single bag hanging from the bar. Inside contained custom made Kiton tuxedo. Bruce, Thor, Clint and Steve all had matching ones, which had been tailored last week to their measurements that JARVIS had found in the files.

Grinning like a smile child on their birthday, Tony closed the closet and headed into the bathroom to start the shower. The night was looking better all ready.

All Natasha wanted was a hot shower; a really long hot shower with soap and candles. Tony had given them two hours to get ready though, which made her a little skeptical about his expectations. As she set her bag down on one of the chairs, she notice a note tapped to the TV that was hanging from the wall.

**Red. You've got some choices in the closet. Pepper ordered them. Said they were more like the ones you had pointed out when you were shopping together, using the name Natalie Rushman.**

Of course Tony hadn't forgotten that whole assistant thing; she doubted he ever would. But in the few days that Natasha had worked for him, she had managed to spend a few hours talking with Pepper. Pepper loved her clothes, even more because she could use Tony's money to buy herself whatever she wanted. For the few times that Natasha had been asked to accompany Tony and or Pepper somewhere, Pepper had insisted on buying her the dresses she needed.

With a small smile on her face, Natasha opened up the closet to find three garment bags, each one containing a different style and colour of dress. Not wanting to mess them up, she shut the closet, grabbed her bag and headed into the bathroom to start warming up the shower. If this was on Tony's bill, she would have as much fun tonight as possible.

Feeling clean again, Natasha ventured back over to the closet to have a good look at the dresses. They were each still packaged in the garment bags, obviously having been ordered earlier in the week. The assassin looked at the names before opening the bags. Marchesa, Akris and Carolina Herrera. Damn, Pepper really did know what she liked.

Carefully she pulled the Akris gown out first. The Flashing Stars Strapless Corsage Gown was beautiful, but she had worn so many black gowns recently, she was honestly getting a bit tired of the colour. Everyone expected the assassin to turn up in a full length black gown; she wanted to change it up a bit.

Slipping the gown back into the bag, she hung it back on the bar and pulled out the next bag. Typically she had never had any luck with Marchesa. Then again, she had never actually sent her measurements, which she suspected Pepper had done. Once she pulled the dress from the bag, she knew she had to try it on. The sweeping white gown was embellished with gold jewels and lace. The dress had a Greek flare to it, which she often leaned towards as it tended to do more for her height.

Before committing to the white, she pulled out the last bag, containing the Carolina Herrera.

"That will do quite nicely," she whispered aloud as she pulled the gown out of the bag.

"They should be here by now," Tony complained as he took Pepper's arm. Bruce, Steve and Thor were waiting at the pillar where Tony had left them while he retrieved Pepper.

Clint and Natasha had yet to make an appearance. He had given them two hours, which frankly he believed had been more than enough time and yet the duo was still late.

"Any sign of them?" Tony asked again when he and Pepper were within range of the others.

Bruce shook his head. "Tried calling Clint and there's no answer."

Tony was miffed. "If they have decided to take a detour and get back to work tonight I will cut off their weapons supply for the entire month."

Steve laughed and nodded his head over to the entrance on the other side of the ballroom.

"Don't think you'll have to do that."

Tony turned around to see Natasha in Clint's arm, descending the small staircase together.

"I honestly thought she'd go for the black," Tony said aloud.

Pepper laughed and elbowed Tony. "She wears black almost every time. This was the reason I ordered the dresses."

As the assassins came closer, Pepper noticed the black band of the thigh holster Natasha often wore. It was rare to find the agent out without at least one knife on her. Pepper guessed one of the reasons she went with the cobalt gown was because of the large slit up the side, giving her easy access to the knife she was now carrying.

As usual, Tony was the first to speak once they got into range. "Two hours. Really, the two hours I gave you weren't enough time?"

Clint smirked. "We got sidetracked on our way down."

"Yeah well you left us down here waiting."

Before Tony could say anything else, Natasha turned to Pepper and thanked her for the dresses.

"Tony wanted to take over the whole thing," Pepper explained as she took a glass of champagne off a passing waiter. "If it was his choice you would've had three black ones in the closet."

Laughing, Natasha played with the chiffon material. The dress clung to her in all the right places, while still falling perfectly to the floor. Pepper had gone to a lot of trouble to get the dress to fit as well as it did.

Pepper and Natasha continued to talk quietly as the others filtered around the room, with Tony introducing them to everyone of importance.

A while later Tony and Clint found the two women leaning against a wall, champagne flutes in hand.

"Shall we?" Clint asked, holding a hand out to Natasha.

She couldn't resist the offer to dance. Carefully setting her flute down on a waiter's tray, she took Clint's arm and followed him out onto the dance floor.

As they began to move around the floor, Natasha settled into Clint's arms and finally began to relax. She couldn't remember the last time he had been to a gala with Clint where they didn't have orders to find or interrogate one of the guests. Natasha could get used to the peacefulness that was in the air tonight.


	5. Chapter 5

**Day 3: Yankee Stadium **

Steve couldn't think of a better way to spend the day than going to a baseball game. After the late night at Gala, everyone agreed to stay in their rooms at the Plaza instead of going back to the Tower. Steve was so tired he had nearly forgotten to inform the others of the plan for the next day. Before he fell into the soft King size bed, he quickly texted the group, telling them of the game the next day.

If Steve was honest with himself, the baseball game had been the only really fun activity that came to his mind. He had toyed with the idea of going to Coney Island, but that was always his place with Bucky when they were teenagers. Steve didn't really want any flashbacks coming up when he was around the other Avengers. Even if they had faced their past, Steve wasn't sure he was ready for that next stage yet.

There wasn't a rush to get up in the morning, and for that Natasha was pleased. Although she had been up at 9am, the hotel was quieter and more peaceful in the mornings than Avengers Tower ever was. She considered getting out of bed and going to the gym in the hotel, but couldn't get out of the warm bed. Natasha loved when Clint was home, as his body was like a small furnace that caused the bed to heat up at an incredible rate. Whenever he was gone, Natasha would scavenge up all the blankets she could-even then it wasn't always enough.

After lying awake in bed, Natasha finally decided to get up and shower. She had a feeling that Clint would want one too, and really didn't want to wait for him to get out, or risk running out of hot water.

Moving carefully, she slipped out of bed, grabbed her shower bag from the floor and tiptoed into the bathroom. Natasha hoped that Clint would still be asleep when she got out, as she always felt badly for waking him up the mornings that they had nowhere to be.

45 minutes later, when Natasha finally urged herself to turn off the hot water, she came out of the bathroom to find Clint sitting up in bed, reading on of the hotel magazines. She quickly looked over to the side table, seeing if Clint had put his hearing aids in. Not seeing them there, she continued getting her things ready and began talking to him.

"Have any idea what we're doing today?" she asked as she started to dry her hair with one of the fluffy hotel towels.

Without looking up from the magazine Clint nodded and replied, "Baseball game."

Natasha frowned and continued to dry and untangle to knots in her hair. Baseball was not her sport of choice, mind it she had never played the game. She never liked the idea of running around in a circle while another team tried to throw a hard ball at you.

"Guess he's missing the America he grew up with."

Everyone seemed in a better mood when they took their seats at Yankee Stadium. Using the money Steve had, and the allowance Tony insisted he take, Steve had bought above average tickets for the group. Tony being Tony, he had tried to make Steve take a box, but Steve wouldn't have any of it. He claimed he wanted to feel the sun on his face and experience the game like he had as a kid.

"Is buying a potentially contaminated hot dog really part of the experience?"

Steve nodded when Clint asked the question, carefully pulling some bills out of his pocket. The seat vendor was starting to come up the stairs towards them.

A small grin suddenly came across Bruce's face. "I think I've had enough contamination for a lifetime."

Natasha was slightly shocked. In mid-sentence with Thor, she stopped and turned around to face the scientist, who was now smiling like a child. Never in the few weeks Natasha had known the man, or the years she'd been tracking him, had she ever heard him crack a joke regarding his condition.

Before anyone could reply to Bruce, the vendor was at the end of the row, where Steve quickly ordered hot dogs and drinks for everyone. As the food begun to get pasted down the line, the bell rang and the players made their way onto the field. The Avengers sat back in their seats, food and drink in hand, awaiting an afternoon that was relaxing and fun for a change.

**Thank you again for the comments/favourites. I know this chapter isn't near the length the others have been, and it's taken a long time to update, but with essays due I had barely any time to write. I'm hoping to update at least once a week now, and I promise the chapters will be back to regular length.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Day 5: A series of places in which no one wanted to really be**

Steve would've like to pretend that he woke up the next morning in his expensive bed at Avenger's Tower, to the soft white lights and sight of his shield leaning against the wall in the corner. He liked to think that the beeping noises in the room were coming from his alarm clock, waking him up to get an early start on training with Natasha. When he began to wake up though, he could no longer keep pretending.

The hard chair was nothing compared to the beds in the tower. Even the pillows Clint had taken from the laundry room made little difference. Steve was cramped from sleeping in the chair with his feet propped up on another. Groaning, he opened his eyes and turned to look at Clint sleeping in a chair beside him. Steve knew that Clint had more often than not spent nights in poor conditions, and probably chairs similar to this, which was why he had an easier time sleeping. The little archer was curled up in a fetal position, with his head on an armrest and feet propped up on the other. He looked peaceful while he slept. If anyone attempted to touch him though, Steve had firsthand experience of how quickly the peaceful man could turn into the assassin known as Hawkeye.

Steve quietly whispered Clint's name, just loud enough for him to hear it. Within a few seconds, Clint was awake and sitting normally in the chair, clutching a few pillows.

"What time is it?"

Steve glanced over at the clock on the wall. "5:30am."

Clint muttered something under his breath and sank back into the chair with his pillows.

"How long have we been out for?"

"About 8 hours, give or take."

Clint nodded and shut his eyes again, remembering what had happened the day before.

Steve still felt poorly, blaming the entire accident on himself. "I honestly thought it was a safe idea, the whole baseball thing. It was a normal thing to go to and almost foolproof."

Clint chuckled at the last part. He did like Steve and knew he had good intentions. "It should have been fine; I mean we survived that protest and Tony's horses. But you've got to remember we're a ticking time bomb, and it just happened to reach zero last night."

Steve could only nod in reply. He kept going over every minutes of the previous night, trying to figure out what went wrong. Well, a lot went wrong, but it all happened so quickly it was a blur.

Steve had caught a ball early in the game. It had been an easy one, slowing down as it came towards him; all he had to do was put his hand out. Things were good then, everyone was happily chatting away, proud of Steve for catching the ball, and glad to be out in the sun. That's when hell started to break loose. Another ball came their way, going directly towards Thor. He was talking to Clint though and hadn't seen the ball. Steve was too slow; he didn't have time to react before the ball smashed into Thor's head. The god was knocked unconscious, scaring everyone around them. That was all it took. The ball rolled away, ending up between Tony and the kid who was sitting beside him. The kid immediate grabbed the ball; so did Tony though. Next thing Steve knew, Tony and this 14 year old boy were swearing at each other, which quickly evolved into pushing, and the kid jumping on Tony's foot. While Tony and the boy were going at it, Natasha and Clint were trying their hardest to keep Bruce calm. It worked, that is until Tony screamed. Bruce lost it. The other guy soon took control, starting to advance on the boy who was now, along with the majority of the people, running towards the stadium exists.

Natasha was on Bruce's trail, trying to stop the Other Guy from destroying and causing damage to the stadium. Clint and Steve quickly fell on Thor and Tony, who were now both unconscious. With one look Clint could tell that the boy had broken Tony's foot, and that Thor wasn't going to wake anytime soon. By time Steve and Clint had the two unconscious avengers' over their shoulders and back down to the field, Natasha had managed to calm the Other Guy down. She was now leading Bruce over to where they were waiting, and hand on his back guiding him carefully.

"We got to go," was the only thing she said when she got into range of the others.

Steve nodded and repositioned Thor on his shoulder. He gave a once over Natasha to make sure she was alright. His eyes stopped however at the sight of blood soaking through her jeans above her knee.

"There's a hospital not far from here," Bruce's voice was quiet but convincing. "I know a few guys who work there. They'll keep what happened quiet until SHIELD takes over."

Everyone nodded and moved out of the stadium, taking to the crowded streets. They blended in easily within the confusion. Steve noticed police cars pulling up to the main entrance and silently thanked Clint for pointing out the emergency exit.

As they walked down the street, checking every few steps to make sure they were drawing as little attention as possible, Steve started to blame himself more and more. Just once he would like a day where he could go back, back before he took the serum, back when Bucky was still alive and not in the army, back to when he got beat up in every ally, and have a normal live again.

Steve hadn't notice he'd drifted off to sleep again until he felt a gentle nudge on his shoulder. His blue eyes quickly snapped open, only to be blinded by the white hospital lights. Once they focused, Steve found Bruce sitting in a chair opposite him and Clint.

"I'm awake," was all Steve could mutter to the doctor. He could sense Clint's smug grin but decided to ignore it. He was tired and deserved the little rest he could get at the moment.

Bruce tried to smile, but it was a failed attempt. He was still ashamed that he had lost control, especially when he thought he had gotten his life back together. Clint and Natasha had helped, and he knew that the Other Guy now came out to protect people, but he just couldn't stop his own mind from going down the road of destruction again.

"You've been awake the entire night?" Bruce could tell Clint's voice was filled with exhaustion, but the agent was doing his best to conceal it.

Bruce nodded and unbuttoned the white coat he was wearing. "Been helping in the surgery wing for the night. Doing something for people helps keep my mind off all the destruction." A small smile crossed Bruce's face before he turned to look at the other three Avengers. Each was lying sound asleep in a bed, still dressed in their normal civilian clothes.

"Any movement from them yet?" Bruce asked. He pulled out some files from a folder he had brought in with him and started to flip through the pages.

"Nat started to stir about 30 minutes. I turned her IV back up, figured you wouldn't want her turning over on that leg. Other than that Thor's still is sleeping and Tony still breathing."

Bruce could only shake his head, wondering how such a simple day could bring about so many injuries. Thor had woken up after arriving at the hospital, but the meds had put him back to sleep. Bruce had taken Tony into surgery almost immediately. Thankfully there were no major issues, just three broken metatarsals that were reset easily. Tony wouldn't be happy when he woke up, but at the sight of his mangled foot, Bruce had been expecting a lot worse. Natasha just needed a few stitches in her leg where she had jumped through some broken glass, but Clint insisted on knocking her out for a while so she would actually sleep and not walk around. Bruce was almost frightened at the amount Ketalar it had taken to knock her out. After the initial dose, and with a still very alert Natasha, Clint had taken the bag from Bruce, and hooked the entire bag up to the IV pump. Bruce was half tempted to take it off, but after the look from Clint he decided not to. Instead, he reset the release dosage and time, told Clint where he could get another bag when that one ran out.

"Once Tony wakes up, we can check out. Until then, we're stuck here." Bruce closed the folders and set them on a table which currently held three large cups of coffee. "Any idea where the cars ended up?"

Clint turned to look at Steve, who had the same blank expression on his face. He hoped to god that the police hadn't towed them away as evidence or anything.

Steve quickly stood up and grabbed his cup of coffee. "I'll go back and check to see if they're still there. If so, I'll bring them back here. Otherwise, Tony's going to kill us if either of his children get so much as a spec of dirt on them."

As Steve walked towards the door, Clint stood up and stretched before taking his coffee as well. "We did drive two cars," he answered before Bruce could say anything. Without making a sound, he took his coat from the end of Natasha's bed and closed the door behind him, leaving the doctor in charge of the three sleeping Avengers.

It was almost 10am when the group finally left the hospital. Natasha and Thor were both able to walk on their own, with Tony relying on crutches to get him around. At first he had refused to use them, asking Steve to carry him instead, but where Steve took a corner too sharply and knocked Tony's foot against the wall, Tony kindly asked for his crutches back.

"So Bruce," Tony mused as he hobbled across the parking garage, slightly behind everyone, "any plans, seeing as it is your day after all."

Bruce just laughed. Between the surgery and his overall concern for the others, Bruce had completely forgotten that it was indeed his day of fun.

"Thanks for the reminder Tony," he called back over his shoulder, "but I think we'll take it easy today. The original plan was to just sit around at the tower and watch movies anyways. You own any of the Mission Impossible movies?"

Tony shook his head. Of all the things he had, the four MI films were not in the collection. "I've got all the Bond ones if it makes a difference."

Bruce was about to suggest stopping somewhere to buy the films when Clint suddenly spoke up. "We've got them back at our place. We could stop on the way back and pick them up. Nat was asking to go and get some more clothes anyways, so it would give her a chance to do that while you and Tony go through and see if any movies catch your eye."

A smile filled the scientist's face. He didn't mind stopping if it meant he could enjoy his long awaited marathon.

"Hey if we're already making a stop, could we swing by my place as well? I left some stuff there that I kind of want with me."

Everyone turned to look at Steve, who had the sincerest look the soldier was capable of giving. He generally didn't ask for much, and now agreed to do most things the team asked him to do. Bruce had no issue taking Steve home to pick up a few things.

As the team piled into the car, and Clint took the wheel, Bruce asked "who lives closest to here."

"1200 Fifth Avenue," Natasha replied.

"273 25th Street," Steve replied in the same monotone voice that Natasha had used.

Clint started the car and shifted into reverse. "Right, so our place, then Steve's. Anyone else need to stop? Thor, need to get anything from Asgard while we're near Central Park?"

"It's not much, but it we don't really spend much time here."

Natasha unlocked the door to the apartment and pushed the door open. To Steve, the apartment almost looked too normal. The décor was modest, and the space definitely looked lived in. A jacket was tossed over a chair, and magazines were scattered on the coffee table. It would've looked like a completely normal flat that completely normal people inhabited, if it weren't for the Glock 26 lying on top of the magazines.

"I'll be honest," Tony stated as he walked in and began to inspect the place, "I was expecting more of the basement with chains thing. You know, old leather chairs, smoke and guns."

Natasha scoffed Stark off and headed towards the closet to grab the few things she had forgotten.

"Barton likes the view and the park. Plus it's got roof access from a number of spots."

Tony simply shrugged and hobbled over to where Clint, Bruce, Steve and Thor were huddled around the box under the TV where the DVD's were stored. With little argument, they managed to select a few films for the night. Once they were ready, Natasha picked up her bag and locked the door. Next stop, Steve's flat.

Steve's place was exactly what everyone expected it to be; a small townhouse in the middle of the Brooklyn suburbs. The entire house was a 40's style house, with much of the main décor from the actual time period. Tony had made comments at the peeling wallpaper in corners and chipped paint, but Steve quite obviously did not care. Steve clearly missed the era he grew up in; this old house was just one of the ties he'd managed to keep from his youth.

Steve left the group in the living room while he ran up the stairs to get the few things he wanted. Natasha, Bruce and Clint all stood awkwardly in the corner, while Thor took a seat in one of the leather chairs and Tony poked around. For a man less than 24 hours out of surgery and on crutches, he sure moved around a lot.

Clint quickly analysed the main living room; he suspected Natasha had done the same, only quicker. There were a few photographs in frames along the mantel, all from post-capsicle. A picture of Steve and Peggy before the serum, a photo afterwards with Howard Stark, Steve and Bucky at the Stark Expo. Clint was surprised at the last photo on the mantel; the main headline from one of the newspapers that covered the Battle of New York. The photo was a blurry image from the middle of the battle, with the Avengers all standing back to back in a circle, assessing the damage done so far. The headline was what really caught Clint's eye, _**Heroes of New York.**_It suddenly dawned on him that Steve was actually proud of them, not just individually, but actually thought of them as his team, and his friends.

"We can go now." Steve's voice caught them all a little of guard.

"Yeah, alright then," Clint cleared his throat.

As they all walked out of the house, Clint noticed that Steve had only brought a brown duffle bag with him; something which looked like it was part of an army kit. Clint wanted to know what was in the bag, but he knew it was an intruding question. Steve would eventually share. Failing that, Clint knew which air vents led to Steve's room, and he was already perfect at getting in and out without Steve knowing he had ever been there.

"Been a good day Bruce?" Steve asked as they all got up from the couches to stretch.

They had finished all of the Mission Impossible films, and were now half way through the third Harry Potter film. While Steve went to get more snacks, specifically Pop Tarts for Thor, Bruce answered the question.

"Well, if we go from 12am, then yeah, it was alright. Anything before that could be considered hellish, but we got out."

Steve still felt guilty about putting Bruce in the exact situation he tended to avoid for legitimate reasons. However, Bruce was refusing to let him take the blame, which was what any good friend would do.

Coming back into the room with a tray of food, Steve set it down on the table. Before he resumed the movie, he took a good look around the room. Clint and Natasha were arguing whether Sirius was guilty or not, and their different views of the Malfoy family. Bruce and Tony, with the help of Thor, were trying to come up with a way to construct wands that actually could be used to cast spells and whatnot. Steve could only help but smile to himself as he yelled for everyone to be quiet before he played the movie again. He hadn't really been given a choice of new friends, but the ones he had been given were working out to be pretty good.


	7. Chapter 7

**Day 6: …**

In all honesty, Clint had no ambition to do anything on his day. At the beginning of the week he had been looking forward to a day where he was in charge. He wanted everyone to feel slightly miserable, and had even gone to the extent of finding profiles and the fears of each Avenger. At one point he considered going swimming with sharks, simply for the amusement of seeing Tony cry when he saw a shark. As the week wore on, Clint desperately wanted to see everyone suffer, particularly Stark. After yesterday though, Clint just wanted to stay in his nest for a week and pretend civilization did not exist.

When morning finally came, with the sun seeping through the glass windows of Avengers Tower, Clint was surprised to find himself asleep on the couch where he had been sitting last night. The blanket that had been around his shoulders was now wrapped completely around him, making a nest with the others that Clint had been sitting on. He looked around the rooms to see the other Avengers sound asleep, still in the same spots they had been last night.

Clint knew there was no use trying to go back to sleep now-it was 10am anyways-and settled on getting off the couch to make himself a cup of coffee. If he could only say one good thing about Stark, it was definitely that the man had good taste in food. When Clint had first gone through the kitchens, he was happy to find not only some of the finest appliances money could buy, but also some of the best food and spices. To top it all off, teas from around the world and what Clint guessed was the world's most expensive assortment of coffees, was found in every room that hosted a kettle and brewer.

With a large cup of black Kopi luwak in hand, Clint headed back to his room to change into clothes. There he found the duffle bag Natasha had brought from their apartment last night, and was happy to see a few pairs of his favourite jeans. When they had agreed to stay with Stark for a while after the battle, Clint and Natasha had only grabbed their basic necessities and training gear, as they honestly did not plan to stay for any period of time. A few weeks had gone by now and Natasha obviously felt that they needed some of their normal civilian things if they were staying any longer.

Now comfortable in jeans and an old t-shirt, Clint headed up to the roof. He needed fresh air after all that had happened in the last 48 hours. He also needed a new idea for what was supposed to be his day.

* * *

><p>When Steve woke up, he was surprised to see everyone else sitting around the kitchen table drinking coffee. Not only was it strange for him to sleep in-he'd had enough sleep for a lifetime- but it was odd that Tony hadn't woken him up. Usually the man took great amusement out of waking people up. Today however, he was sitting beside Bruce, talking about gamma radiation again.<p>

Giving out a small yawn, Steve tossed the blanket he was covered with aside and rose to his feet.

"You didn't wake me up," he muttered. "Why?"

"You looked tired and peaceful." It was Bruce that answered Steve's question. "Natasha convinced Tony to let you sleep."

Steve nodded a silent thank you to Natasha before taking his spot at the table where a fresh cup of coffee had just been placed. He looked around the table, seeing everyone's familiar faces, except Clint's. The archer's chair was empty, and there was no sign of the hawk anywhere in the room. Steve decided not to ask. He knew what it was like, to want to be alone without anyone asking questions.

As cups emptied, the Avengers slowly dispersed, each heading to their own rooms to shower and freshen up. Steve followed suit, desperately wanting to have a hot shower. He joined Bruce in the waiting elevator, and lightly tapped the button with his shield on it.

Once on his floor, Steve strolled down the hall to his bedroom. Just before his door, Steve noticed a glimmer coming from the vent above. Without moving his head or changing pace, Steve looked up at the vent cover to see a pair of icy blue eyes staring at him. Slightly taken aback, Steve opened the bedroom door and slowly stepped inside. He took a quick glance around the room. Everything seemed normal. The duffel bag was still zipped up, and sitting on the table where Steve had left it last night. _What were you doing Clint? _The voice in Steve's head asked.

* * *

><p>Natasha was used to not hearing from Clint for weeks, even months on end when either one of them were on a mission. Even though it was almost normal, she still didn't like it. And the fact that she had woken up this morning and not found him in any of his usual hideouts made her all the more worried. She had checked her phone every few minutes, waiting for that call or text that just had one word and Natasha would be able to tell where he was. Still, nothing was there.<p>

Natasha was more than relieved when she came out of the shower and Clint was sitting on the kitchen table, playing with an old record player.

"You missed breakfast," Natasha's mutual voice filled the loud room. She knew Clint had heard her, as a small smile came across her partner's face.

He shrugged off the comment and lifted the arm up, stopping the music mid-song. "I had some stuff to figure out. Just took a little longer than I thought it would."

Natasha kept talking to Clint as she walked down the hall and into the bedroom to get dressed into the clothes she'd picked up from the house yesterday. "Please don't say that we're doing something stupid like swimming with turtles."

Clint coughed in dismay. "Hey, it was a valid idea! Ever since that documentary Thor found and made everyone watch, Tony has a mortal fear of turtles. He made me ride a horse; I'll make him ride a turtle."

Honestly, Natasha would've paid a large sum of money to see Stark cry, and if it was over the fact that he had to be near a turtle, even better. But after the week they had all experienced, Natasha wanted to do nothing more than train on her own for a few hours and then relax while watching a good movie.

"What's the new plan then?" she asked, coming back to the main room wearing athletic shorts and a tank top.

"You'll see tonight. It's going to be great."

Laughing, Natasha picked up and apple from the counter. "I'm going down to the gym for a while. Want to come; we haven't really trained all week."

Clint nodded before jumping down from the counter. He never passed up the opportunity to train with the small Russian assassin.

* * *

><p>When 7pm rolled around, all the Avengers-minus Clint- were waiting in the storage room on Clint and Natasha's floor.<p>

"Why are we all here again?" Tony asked, miffed that they were all in such a small space. Two Science Bros, a super solider, an assassin and a god packed into what really should have been a closet was not what any of them would have considered ideal, let alone safe.

"Just give Clint a minute. I'm sure he knows what he's doing."

Almost as if Natasha's words had been a cue, there was a loud bang, followed by a creaking noise. The room suddenly became lighter as the roof access hatch opened to reveal Clint leaning over the opening. With a large smile on his face, Clint tossed down a thick, black rope ladder.

"Who's first?"

One by one they all climbed up the ladder, with Clint giving them a hand at the end to make sure they didn't fall over. Natasha was the last up. As soon as her eyes came into focus on the roof, she had to stop herself from gasping in awe.

Clint had rearranged the roof to look like a small campground. The targets had been removed from Tony's rooftop garden, which was complete with small trees and grass, and been replaced with strings of white lights. Natasha couldn't believe that Clint had done this all in the matter of a few hours, and had actually thought of an idea that didn't end in fighting with each other. Clint closed the access hatch and walked down the stone pathway, waving for them to follow. Weaving between lit trees and garden plants, Clint led them to the middle of the roof.

"Here we are."

Six lounge chairs had been set up around a pit, where a large fire was already roaring. There was a small BBQ set up beside the rock waterfall, which Natasha could see was cooking hamburgers and sausage.

"I thought about going and doing the whole outdoors thing," Clint admitted as he went to the grill to turn the meat over. "But we're a bit of a ticking time bomb."

Bruce was the first to laugh and take a seat in one of the chairs. Natasha didn't think she'd seen such a bright smile on the scientist's face since Tony told him he could have full access to the labs. She couldn't help herself from smiling and laughing along with everyone else.

Clint and Steve distributed the food as everyone fell into place in the chairs. Natasha had never actually seen Clint barbeque meat. After the first bit of her sausage though, she would be asking him to cook that way more often.

"Never underestimated your cooking skills for a minute Legolas."

"Thanks Stark."

* * *

><p>"Hey Nat?"<p>

"Yes Steve."

"Do you have stuff from your childhood that you've kept with you, or did you forget it all when you came to SHEILD?"

Natasha didn't answer right away, she didn't know if she should actually tell Steve the truth or not.

"Makarov pistol from the Red Room. First mission after I graduated the Black Widow program, that was the one I made the kill with." Natasha's voice became very quiet, suddenly all eyes and ears were on her. "I kept is as a reminder of what I've left, and what I really don't want to go back to."

The rooftop was quiet, the only noise being the crackling of the campfire and whispers of wind through the trees.

"Is that why you have the files?" Clint's voice was almost inaudible, but Steve still heard him.

He nodded and dropped his gaze down to where his hands were folded around his cup of hot chocolate. "Fury gave them to me when I woke up, when I asked what had happened to everyone. They were my friends, they shouldn't have had to live knowing what had happened to me, and here I am, now alive, and they never even knew the truth."

Natasha wanted to tell Steve just to let it go, that papers with photographs could only do so much, but she could never say it to him, not while she still kept the photograph of her parents holding her as a young girl.

"There's that woman whose picture is in that compass thing beside your bed. She's still alive. Hell, she probably knows that you're alive." Clint was trying here, actually trying like he had tried with Natasha, to stop Steve from blaming himself.

Steve's expression went from sad to a little angry. "Hey, is that what you were doi-"

"It doesn't matter what he was doing in the vents," Natasha cut Steve off sharply. "Trust me, if you hadn't seen him you would've never even known he went through the bag, and he didn't tell us so you know he can be trusted with secrets."

"Who's this girl anyways?" Clint asked, trying to get back on subject.

Steve sighed and went back to the sad expression he had worn seconds earlier. "Peggy Carter."

"Hey, Agent Carter! She's great, was real fun to spend time with."

Everyone turned to stare at Tony, who was now smiling and happily part of the conversation.

Steve looked confused for a moment before connecting everyone in his head. "Right, your dad…"

"Got to spend time with her while my dad was helping with SHIELD. Taught me a lot about you Cap- couldn't really stop talking about you actually. Loved to tell that story of how you convinced her to take you behind the lines, and my dad flying you out there."

A small smile crept across the Captain's face. He'd forgotten that Stark's father had been in on the whole SHIELD thing. He was one of the people Steve wished was still around, so he could catch up and talk like they used to.

Another lull of stillness washed over the Avengers. No one really wanted to say anything; for fear that they might say the wrong thing and set Steve off. It was Bruce who ultimately decided to take the leap of faith.

"You really should see her."

Steve sighed a bit and looked up at the scientist. "I know. It's just hard."

Bruce nodded in agreement. "If it helps, I'll come with you. Not into the room or anything, but just drive you there. I know how hard it can be, afraid that you'll hurt someone you love. Staying away only makes it worse really."

"Thanks doc, I'll take you up on it." Steve's voice was a tone happier now than it was when he'd first brought up topic. Maybe it was the thought of seeing Peggy that made him feel better, or it was just getting some stuff off his chest.

A light laugh escaped from the doctor's mouth. "We're a chemical mixture than makes chaos, with too much emotional baggage to even get through a week together. "

Clint laughed in return. "Yeah, don't really see why Fury wants us to stick around. We've got Stark here with an arc reactor keeping him alive, Thor with general sibling issues and the whole god thing, Nat with the KGB and Red Room, Bruce with anger management as well as the Other Guy coming around sometimes, and well I just have a bad past. Not to mention that we all have PSTD to some extreme levels. We're a ticking time bomb."

Silence again, just the sound of the dying fire and cool wind coming across the roof.

"Yeah, it's a time bomb," Steve agreed. "But it works. We're a team, and teams have weak spots, but the best part's that some other guy's strength will make up for the other guy's weakness. That's why Fury put us together. And besides, even if we do end up killing each other, I can at least say I worked with some pretty good friends."

Smiles were exchanged around the campfire, as everyone took another marshmallow from the bag which was being passed around, followed by cookies and chocolate.

"You know, if we really wanted to see who's going to kill each other first, we can make it another competition. Sorry Legolas, but my bet's on Red this time."

"Shut it Stark. And by the way, that marshmallow's on fire."

**So, that's the end of it. Thank you to everyone who's been reading and whatnot. Shoutout to Qweb, ilikehats2, IrethOfMirkwood, Huskygirl1998 and .3954 for reviewing the previous chapter and giving me the motivation to finally finish this fic and get it posted every few days...you're amazing too even if you're just one of the people who's read the story and kept up with it.**


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